Hunter & Hunted
by everfaraway
Summary: Brad has a nightmare about a man who he believed abandoned him but when some old friends appear, will he accept the truth of the situation or continue to believe what he thought was the truth?


Hunter and Hunted

_**Author: This is the re-load of the original except with a bit more detail. I own nobody but the members of the Wolf Pack, the Shadow Raptors & their members, plus the three new zoids. If ya want a description of them, here ya go:**_

_**Desert Wolf is just like the Command Wolf with a longer muzzle & ears like the Shadow Fox.**_

_**A Mountain Wolf is a more slender & agile version of the Command Wolf that's built closer to ground.**_

_** Wind Wolf is very slender & has long legs. It doesn't really look like a Commander Wolf at all.**_

Brad took a drink of his coffee and watched Bit wander around the hanger aimlessly. "Stupid rookie." he muttered. Outside the base, lightning lit up the sky. It also lit up the hanger, making almost everything glow with a silverish light. But when the light hit Brad's eyes, they glowed a weird shade of yellow-green. He closed his eyes and didn't say a word. By the time the light subsided, Bit was out the door. But standing in the opening of the hanger was a shadowy figure.

"Hello Brad." the figure said. Brad jumped to his feet and stared at the figure. Lightning flashed again, lighting up his eyes again and revealing a huge zoid behind the figure. His eyes went wide with shock.

"Wait!" Brad Hunter jerked upright in his bed, breathing hard. He looked around his room half heartedly. Nothing was out of place and the door was still locked; he was okay. "A nightmare." he whispered, brushing his bangs back. "That voice, that zoid. I know them both. And I thought I buried them away. Guess not." he muttered as he lay back down. He put his arm over his eyes. "I have to go out there tomorrow, today, which ever it is." Brad said, glancing at his alarm clock, which read roughly five thirty. He reached over and turned it off. "I'm going to sleep in for once." he muttered.

A knock came on his door a few hours later.

"Brad! Wake up!" It was the pink haired Leena Toros.

"I'm awake Leena." he muttered, glaring at the door.

"Then get out of bed. It's almost ten o'clock." she told him.

"Alright." he said. She walked away and he got up to get ready. About ten minutes later, he stepped into the kitchen.

"Are you okay Brad?" Jamie asked, handing him some coffee.

"Fine, didn't sleep very well." he muttered.

"Hmm. That's unusual." Naomi Flugle walked in, a usual visitor to the base, with Leon Toros at her heels.

"Hi Leon." Leena said, with a grin.

"Morning." he said, sitting beside her.

Naomi dropped down beside Brad and asked, "What's the matter." He shook his head.

"Brad?" Leon asked.

"It's nothing to worry about." he growled, getting up and taking his coffee with him.

"Brad!" they all called after him. He went to the living room and leaned against the door.

_"They left you for dead at the bottom of that cliff. He left you for dead."_ he thought. He set his coffee on the table and lay down on the couch, thinking of the first time he had even been inside the base. _"That was a long time ago."_ he thought.

Flashback

He was awake, but lay still to allow his senses to kick in. There were bright

lights above him, not the sun though. He could hear none of the sounds he was

used to: the wind, zoids moving, his pack mates breathing. "Where am I?" he asked.

"In the Blitz team base." His eyes snapped open and he found himself staring

at a pink haired girl slightly younger than him.

"Hi." she said. A brown haired boy, older than him, stood behind her; a brown haired man was sitting alongside him.

"It's okay son." he said.

"The name's Brad Hunter." he growled, attempting to force himself up. His chest and ribs were taped, so the pain left him with no choice but to lay back down.

"I'm Leena Toros. This is my big brother Leon and our daddy." the girl said.

"Doctor Toros." the man said.

"Where's Command Wolf?" he asked.

"In the hanger, it's beat up, but can be repaired." the doc said.

"Good." Brad sighed.

End Flashback

"Ash, Dawn, Jade, Cloud, Lightning. Whatever happened to you all?" he whispered. Someone clicked their tongue from the doorway. Leon stood there, the one person Brad had truly trusted since he had woken up at the base.

"Who are they, those people you named off?" he asked.

"People I used to know; a long time ago." Brad whispered.

"A long time ago, before we found you." he guessed. He started to answer when the door opened.

"There's some people here, all in wolf-type zoids. They want to see you." Jamie told him. Brad got up, went to the hanger and just outside.

"Hello Brad." a female's voice said, making him jerk back. Five zoids stood before him, four of which zoids he knew. One was gray Command Wolf, very plain. The second was beautiful red-gold Desert Wolf, with streaks of a very pale pink and blue mixed in, to resemble the sky at dawn. Third in line was yet another Desert Wolf, this jade green some darker splotches on it's paws and face. The fourth was a silver and blue Wind Wolf and the fifth was a Mountain Wolf, white in color with streaks of blue, silver and gold which gave it the effect of seeing a lightning storm.

The five pilots stood in front of their zoids. The Command Wolf's pilot was a tall, heavy built older man with very pale almost gray skin, brown eyes and graying hair. This was Ash, the oldest of the pack. Where he was from was a complete mystery. He didn't talk of his past but then again he didn't talk much at all. Ash was a man who Brad would gladly have as a friend rather than an enemy if he had to choose.

The beautiful Desert Wolf's pilot was a very beautiful woman. She was average height and build with long golden blond hair, pale blue eyes and a dark tan; Dawn. Dawn was one of the most beautiful women he had ever met and if she hadn't been like a sister to him for most of his youth, he would have probably fallen head over heels for her. He had been very young when he asked where she was from and the only answer he had gotten was: "The desert Brad. I'm a daughter of the desert."

The third wolf's pilot was a beautiful and skinny young woman with jade green eyes, red hair and a dark tan. This was Jade, Dawn's daughter. Jade had been born when he was young, a daughter of the desert like her mother. The day she had been born the whole pack gathered to welcome this new addition to their family. It had been a night full of celebration: a feast, music, a bonfire and plenty of howling from the zoids.

The Wind Wolf's pilot was a young woman with odd silver hair, blue eyes, a little tall and skinny with a light tan; Cloud. Where Dawn had been like sister to him, Cloud had been like a mother to him. For a majority of the time he had been with the pack, she had looked after him. It was her who had taught him that in order to get anywhere in life, he had to work hard. Like Ash she was a mystery and wouldn't talk about her past.

The final pilot was a man a bit older than Brad with jet black hair and hazel eyes. He was tall, thin and pale. This was the head of the pack, Lightning. Lightning had come into the pack when he was young like so many others. They hadn't really ever gotten along growing up: Lightning had always be very power hungry. It didn't surprise Brad that the runaway from the city was leading the pack now.

Like him, they gave nothing away in their eyes. He saw no clues as to how they had faired over the years, where the rest of the pack was or if they were the last. It was hard to say how much they had changed over years. But many years ago Jade had been just a tiny girl much too young to pilot a zoid and he had been a very different person.

"Brad." Lightning said, as he eyed the gold and black Shadow Fox.

"Why are you five here?" he asked.

"You had the dream didn't you. Of Inferno returning to lead the pack." Cloud said, in her soft soothing voice.

"He will not!" Lightning snapped at her. The younger woman refused to shrink away from him.

"I did have the dream, but I don't know if I want to believe it." he said, narrowing his eyes at Lightning.

"Why not?" Ash growled.

"He left me for dead at the bottom of a cliff after our battle with the Shadow Raptors." Brad said. Jade's jaw dropped and understandably so, Inferno was her father and she had been very small when that battle had happened.

"He didn't. I did." Lightning hissed. All five looked at him.

"What! How dare you leave one of our own for dead!" Dawn shouted, as she left her daughter's side.

"Learn your place Dawn Wolf!" he barked.

"My place is at side of our pack's leader." she growled.

"Then by all means, take it." he told her. She didn't move, a look of mixed defiance and hatred in her eyes.

"By our true leader: Inferno." she added. Lightning growled and without warning, slapped her. She stumbled back, her daughter and Cloud rushed to her. Ash pulled them away, stepping in front of them.

Brad growled, punched Lightning and pinned him to the ground.

"It's againest our law to hurt them! You're supposed to turn your shoulder and take her rage!" he snapped, with hackles raised.

"You aren't part of the pack, you never were! I knew Inferno was going to pick you to lead us in his place, but I couldn't allow that to happen. So I struck a deal with Havok of the Shadow Raptors to get rid of you. Then I told them I'd let them run on our territory if my plan worked. The pack destroyed them, but I still gained the leadership I deserved." he said.

"Traitor!" Brad roared as a shadow fell over them.

"Then take your vengance. He nearly destroyed your zoid, do what you will to his."

Dawn, Jade, Ash and Cloud stared in shock. Brad looked up over his shoulder at the man who stood beside him. His hair was flame red and his eyes were green. He was tall, muscular with the lightest of tans. This was the man who he had idolized for many years and who had taken him into the pack as a child.

"Inferno." Lightning said, the only one not in shock of seeing him return.

Some time later, Brad and the Wolf Pack were sitting on the roof of the base.

"I believe we've stayed long enough." Inferno finally said, as the sun began to set.

"What are you going to do about Lightning?" Brad asked.

"He will be dealt with, if he returns to our territory." the older man said. The sandy haired man sat in silence as they walked away, got in their zoids and ran off. In the distance he could hear them howling and saw their pack formation. At the back, Cloud and Ash ran side by side. There was a space in the middle of the group. In front of the space, Dawn and Jade ran together. In front of them was the pack's real leader. The Mountain Wolf was black with red flames around it's throat, down it's tail and on it's paws.

"Is the space for you, if you go back to them?" Naomi stood behind him, watching them.

"I think so." he whispered.

"Are you going to go back to the pack?" she asked, sitting beside him on the edge of the roof.

He shrugged and whispered, "I don't know. Maybe, if I ever have nowhere else to go."

"Are you still a Wolf?" she teased.

"In the form of a Shadow Fox, yes." he said.

"They seem like good people." Naomi said.

He looked at her and said, "One day, I'll take you to meet them."

"Sounds like a good idea." she said.

"You're a lot like Dawn." he told her.

"That's an honor to hear." she said.

_**Author: Thanks to KitsuneFyn for the review on the original version. I hope you like the new version of this story. Now I'm off to see if Mirokou's bf will take me to see X-Men Origins tonight when he takes her. *crossing fingers* R&R plz.**_


End file.
